Bible dictionaries

Pot

What Bible dictionaries say about “Pot”, one article after the other.

Easton’s Bible Dictionary & Webster’s 1828 Dictionary

Pot - (Webster's 1828 Dictionary)

POT, n.

1. A vessel more deep than broad, made of earth, or iron or other metal, used for several domestic purposes; as an iron pot, for boiling meat or vegetables; a pot for holding liquors; a cup, as a pot of ale; an earthen pot for plants, called a flower pot, _c.

2. A sort of paper of small sized sheets.

To go to pot, to be destroyed, ruined, wasted or expended. [A low phrase.]

POT, v.t. To preserve seasoned in pots; as potted fowl and fish.

1. To inclose or cover in pots of earth.

2. To put in casks for draining; as, to pot sugar, by taking it from the cooler and placing it in hogsheads with perforated heads, from which the molasses percolates through the spongy stalk of a plantain leaf.

Matthew George Easton, Easton’s Bible Dictionary; Noah Webster, American Dictionary of the English Language (1828)

The article in Easton + Webster 1828

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE 1915)

pot: A term used as the translation of a number of Hebrew and Greek words whose fundamental meaning seems to describe them as intended for the most part to hold liquid or semi-liquid substances, but the pots of Ex 27:3 are intended to hold ashes.

(1) cir, the most common word for "pot." It designates most frequently some household utensil, probably a pot or kettle for boiling. So 2Ki 4:38 ff; Ex 16:3; Jer 1:13 the King James Version; Eze 11:3,7,11, "caldron"; 24:3,6 the King James Version; Mic 3:3; Zec 14:21, etc. It is also used as the name of some vessel of the sanctuary. So Ex 27:3, where the context shows it was intended to hold ashes; 1Ki 7:45; 2Ch 4:16; 2Ki 25:14. In Ps 60:8; 108:9, it is a pot for washing.

(2) parur (Nu 11:8; 1Sa 2:14), a vessel for boiling; in Jud 6:19, a vessel for holding broth.

(3) dudh, rendered "pot" in Ps 81:6 in the King James Version, "basket" in the Revised Version (British and American); "pot" both the King James Version and the Revised Version (British and American) in Job 41:20.

(4) tsintseneth (Ex 16:33), the jar in which the manna was placed. This jar or pot is mentioned in Heb 9:4 under the name stamnos.

(5) 'acon (2Ki 4:2), some kind of jar for holding oil.

(6) xestes (Mr 7:4), some kind of household utensil.

Mention may also be made of the word rendered "pot" in Le 6:28 the King James Version, where the Revised Version (British and American) renders more correctly by the general term "vessel"; for the King James Version "pots" (Ps 68:13) the Revised Version (British and American) substitutes "sheepfolds." The root is uncertain. Those who render "sheepfolds" connect with the related root in Ge 49:14; Jud 5:16. Others render "fireplaces" or "ash heaps." See also "range for pots," in Le 11:35; "pots," Jer 35:5 the King James Version, correctly "bowls" the Revised Version (British and American); "refining pots" in Pr 17:3; 27:21.

See also FOOD.

Walter R. Betteridge

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia — James Orr, general editor and contributors; CrossWire SWORD module ISBE 2.2

The article in ISBE 1915

Smith’s Bible Dictionary

The term "pot" is applicable to so many sorts of vessels that it can scarcely be restricted to any one in particular.
  1. Asuc (2 Kings 4:2) the earthen jar, deep and narrow, without handles, probably like the Roman and Egyptian amphora, inserted in a stand of wood or stone.
  2. Cheres , an earthen vessel for stewing or seething. (Leviticus 6:28; Ezekiel 4:9)
  3. Dud , a vessel for culinary purposes, perhaps of smaller size. (1 Samuel 2:14) The "pots" set before the Rachabites, (Jeremiah 35:5) were probably bulging jars or bowls. The water-pots of Cana appear to have been large amphorae, such as are in use at the present day in Syria. These were of stone or hard earthenware. The water-pot of the Samaritan woman may have been a leathern bucket, such as Bedouin women use.

William Smith; revised by F. N. Peloubet and M. A. Peloubet; CrossWire SWORD module Smith 1.3

The article in Smith